The Sunday Mail
Dr Christine Peta Disability Issues
Access to appropriate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities plays an important role in enhancing the health and well-being of people with disabilities. The United Nations states that at a worldwide scale, 2,4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services such as toilets or latrines and millions of people die each year due to diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
The lack of appropriate WASH facilities for people with disabilities may result in them engaging in unhygienic and dangerous practices (Collender et al, 2011). For example, some people with disabilities use their hands and feet to move from one point to another, hence they may crawl on the floor of latrines.
A study carried out by WaterAid Ethiopia revealed that a lack of water and soap in such instances exposes persons with disabilities to a high number of health risks.
Some people with disabilities may defecate in the open albeit, under the cover of bushes and fields, to avoid the discrimination they experience when using public or communal toilets, which in most cases are not disability inclusive. One wonders how persons with disabilities manage to negotiate the outdoor terrain if there are thorns or if it is raining and there is mud.
In instances where there are no fields or bushes, some people [with disabilities] have to wait until its dark to go out in the open to use the “toilet”. The long waits may result in abdominal discomfort and serious illnesses (Unicef, 2016). In some instances, people with disabilities may resort to limiting their intake of food and water, so as to avoid the need of going to the toilet. Some children and youths with disabilities are unable to attend educational centres because the schools do not offer appropriate access to water, basic sanitation and hygiene facilities in ways that suit the nature of their impairments. According to World Vision (2014) access to safe drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools reduces the number of children with disabilities who drop out of school.
Lack of access to appropriate WASH facilities complicates the process of going through a full day in school, it can be worse for a female student with disability who may be menstruating.
A study carried out in Zimbabwe (Peta, 2016) revealed that the design and construction of toilets in some schools is premised on a belief that all toilet users are non-disabled. As a result, it is common to find that a wheelchair user is unable to access the toilet on his or her own.
In some instances, the toilet door is too narrow, hence the wheelchair may not go through. In addition, and similar to the findings of a study carried out by WaterAid in Ethiopia, the toilet cubicles may be very dark, and there are usually no toilet seats or hand rails, particularly in the rural areas. Furthermore, some people with disabilities drag their bodies on the floor to reach the latrine.
Nyasha who attends a rural high school in Manicaland said, “I can’t get in there with a wheelchair, the door is too narrow. So I have to announce to non-disabled students that I want to use the toilet. They carry me from the wheelchair into the toilet, wait outside for me to do the ‘job’ and carry me back to the wheelchair. What kind of a life is that?”
To be continued next week
